First Comes Love
by White Wave 1218
Summary: An old enemy is revived with the intention to take Eve as his bride. After the Gang is forced to retreat Eve makes a rash decision to stand on the same leave as their foe. This sparks a series of event that ends with... the entire team switching genders! How on earth with they cope with this? Multi-Paring and lemon in later chapters.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: After long last I got these first few chapters ready for their debut. It was quite the journey, but all's well that ends well, I suppose. The lemon that will make this story M rated won't come for a while and will be clearly marked, so if it's not your cup of tea you are free to skip over it.  
Eve: Code-Empress  
Raven: Blade Master  
Elsword: Rune Slayer  
Rena: Wind Sneaker  
Aisha: Elemental Master  
Chung: Tactical Trooper  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the ElGang or their world. Also, the original idea for this story was something my best frind came up with and had me write.**

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**Prologue**

Eve has heard some humans say that, those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. It seemed as if the supposed King of her race was emulating that saying perfectly. But something was different this time. She had noticed that the Nasods who attacked them seemed to be coming more after her than her companions. She had broken off from the main attack party to test the theory and the large group of Type-W9 Nasods had split in two groups with the larger one coming after her, while the smaller group kept her companions busy. She had decided to get to the heart of the problem. She sent Oberon ahead of her to keep her path clear while Ophelia stayed next to her to handle the small fry along with her Drones: Remy and Moby.

When she broke into the room where the Nasod King had been, the Nasod was still as damaged and as limp as when she had last seen him. "My Lady," Oberon said, bowing his head slightly, "Sensors indicate that the King is offline. No El energy readings are being detected."

Eve nodded at him, but frowned. That did not explain why the Nasods were still being so aggressive. She reached out and touched the King's broken Powertrain. Nothing happened but then she wasn't sure if she had been expecting something to. She turned to leave when something suddenly flashed out from the shadows. It struck Ophelia nearly cleaving her arm off.

An unfamiliar emotion flashed through Eve. Was this panic? Or sorrow? But then another emotion swept over her. One she recognized: Anger. Moby and Remy began to spin around her erratically in response to the emotion. "Oberon, come." She commanded, her voice steady, but underlined with her rage.

Her faithful Nasod Knight came to her side and she ran a scan over the area and detecting a Nasod reading similar to her own. It felt familiar, but she couldn't place form where. "You shall pay for harming my servant. Show yourself." She spoke with the bearing and authority of the Queen she was.

From a shadowed hallway came a dark laugh, "I see you have changed much since last we met, my Queen. Though I believe I have changed more than you." A figure steeped out of the shadows. He was tall and had silver hair like her that was spiked back. A few strands hung over his eyes which were covered by a black and gold visor. He had a white trench coat on with gold trim. The hanging part had been divided into four sections. He had a gold belt with black strips of leather hanging down. In the center of his chest was a blue orb.

"Who are you?" She questioned.

"I'm hurt, Eve." He said, placing a hand over the orb in mock hurt. "You don't recognize your King."

She examined the Nasod in front of her, for he was obviously not human. She rescanned the energy reading coming from the Nasod and discovered that it matched that of the fallen Nasod King. She realized what her counterpart had done: he had created a humanoid unit like her own. The transfer seemed to have boosted his power but she didn't think it would make much difference in the outcome of their battle. She was sure she was stronger. If anything she was more used to having a Human Unit than the King so she could beat him just with speed and agility alone.

"The form you are in does not alter your fate. You will be eliminated." She said. She held up a hand at the King, "Oberon, Genocide Ripper." She ordered.

The Nasod Knight shot forward, twin blades flashed as he attacked the King. The King easily dodged the moves, "Disk Shot." He intoned. A rocket appeared and tore through Oberon's armor leaving a gaping hole in his side. The Knight fell to the ground with a crash.

Eve stepped back her Emotional Drive twisting at the sight of her fallen Knight, "Illusion Strike." She commanded. Remy and Moby multiplied and flew at the King.

"Horizontal Slash." The King countered, the drones were knocked away.

Remy and Moby fell at the Queen's feet. Eve saw a screen flash before her eyes, "ERROR DETECTED. Drones REMY and MOBY: DISCONNECTED." She had lost her most trustworthy weapons, which left her no choice but to attack the King directly.

In a flash the King was right in front of her. He tried to grab her, but she pulled away just in time. She raised her hand and shot off her energy balls. They exploded in front of the King; however, he used the force of the blast to flip in the air. He landed on a half broken pillar and shot towards her once more. The two Nasods exchanged blows for a few moments but the King pulled out a blade hidden under his sleeve and slashed at her. She crossed her arms to shield her face and tried to summon one of her other Knights, but before she could make the call he pinned her to the wall, a hand wrapped around her throat. The force of the impact shook her braids lose and her silvery hair fell around her shoulders. She tried to pry his hand off her, but he took both of her wrists and pinned them above her head.

"Now maybe we can talk without any disruptions." He said a sadistic grin plastered on his face.

Eve tried to wiggle free but the other Nasod's unit was stronger than her own and she couldn't move.

"I have a proposition for you Eve." He said, "Would you like to hear it?"

Eve closed her eyes to control the human feelings that were running rampant within her. After she got her Emotional Drive under control she opened them again. Her face was once more the picture of indifference. "I do not suppose I am in a position to refuse." She replied.

"So cold, Eve; my proposition for you is this: I want you to leave those pathetic humans you travel with and become my true Queen. In return I will no longer wage war on the humans; instead we can rebuild the Nasod Race. Is that not what you want?" he said.

Eve had to close her eyes again so she could think properly. She did want to revive her race and she did not want the King Nasod to continue fighting the humans, but was the price of leaving her companions worth it? Then a part of what the King had said registered. "Become my true Queen," She was pretty sure that meant he wanted her to do what the humans called a "marriage". That was something she did _not _want. Her mind filled with images of a dark haired human who made her feel warm inside. She realized that he did not like her, but she believed that what she felt for him was what the humans called "love".

The more she thought about that part, the more she realized that she would never be able to part from her group for that reason. She most certainly did not want to bind herself to the Nasod King, who had hurt her companions before. He had shown himself to be untrustworthy before, how was she to know that he was not lying to her now?

She opened her golden eyes and said with calm certainty, "I will never abandon my companions. I will not bind myself with you. And I will restore _my_ race and _my_ kingdom with my own power. I do not need you; I had thought I made that clear when I smashed your Powertrian with my own hands."

His grip tightened on her throat, even though she did not need to breathe the sensation of his squeezing her neck was most uncomfortable. She began to squirm. "Perhaps I was not especially clear," He hissed, "I _will_ have you as my Queen, Eve. I will not take no for an answer."

He reached towards the front of her dress. Eve's system went into shock, she knew what was going to happen next; and she could do nothing to stop it. She was ready to shut down and wait it out when something black and white shot at them like a shot from Chung's cannon. The King was knocked away from Eve and the two figures went sprawling.

The sudden movement disorientated her sensors and she had to recalibrate them. When she could focus again, the newcomer was trading blows with the King. It was Raven.

The former mercenary was as outwardly clam as ever as he slashed at the King with a hidden fury that he usually was able to easily control. He had rushed past the others when he saw that Eve had vanished. He had told himself it was because he wanted to make sure the Nasod wouldn't turn out to be a traitor, he had brushed off the flash of panic when he had seen the sliver haired Queen missing. When he had come in to see an unknown foe strangling the small Nasod female his vision had gone red.

Without even being fully aware of his actions he had ruthlessly attacked Eve's assaulter. At some point their respective blades locked together, sparks flying. "Who are you?" Raven ground out, his gold eyes were molten steel with his emotions.

The stranger laughed, "I have not really settled on a name yet, but now that I am thinking about it… you may call me Adam. Yes, I like that, King Adam of the Nasods. It goes along with my Queens lovely name, how perfect." he said, a mocking smile remained plastered on his face the whole time he spoke.

Raven broke apart and jumped back to stand in front of Eve. He looked over his shoulder at her and had to keep his expression steady. Her dress was torn in several places; one of her sleeves had almost slipped down to her elbow revealing a dangerous amount of chest. Her braids had come lose and the cascading fall of silver around her slim body made her look like a vulnerable child. He could almost see the data screens flashing in her eyes as she tried to repair whatever damage had been done to her unit.

The sight invoked an emotion he refused to acknowledge. He focused on the memory of the data screens in her eyes to remind himself that she wasn't human. She was a Nasod, a robot. Just because Elsword was convinced that she was on their side didn't mean she wouldn't change sides at a moment's notice.

"Are you alright?" he asked, forcing his voice to be harsh and uncaring.

It took a moment but she raised her golden eyes to meet his and she said, "I am experiencing several cases of system errors. However, my Unit's shell is relatively undamaged and my energy source is intact." Her voice was tinged with a robotic tone that only appeared when she was hurt- no, damaged. Humans get hurt, Nasods get damaged.

He made a sound of dismissal, "Maybe if you weren't so useless this wouldn't have happened." He snapped. He turned around before the look of hurt in her eyes could register fully.

Eve was… hurt. This was not an altogether unfamiliar emotion, especially when she dealt with Raven, but she didn't like it. She felt like this whenever she could see that Raven was putting up walls between them. He was reestablishing the Human-Nasod barrier between them. Every time he did that she felt a pang in her Emotional Drive. She couldn't fully comprehend the odd emotions, but she knew that it hurt when he did that.

The dark haired male leapt at the King once more. His blade flashed in the dim lighting, "Wolf Fang!" he cried. Adam sidestepped the attack like it had never come. Then Eve saw the King murmur something, there was a flash of light and all Eve could register at that moment of time was red. Some of it splattered on her. The warm drops hitting her cool, metallic skin, a sensation she shouldn't have been able to feel but did anyway.

She heard the thud, heard the King's laughter, and heard the sound of the blood dipping form his blade. When her eyes refocused she saw Raven lying in a pool of his own blood. A large gash had been opened in his chest. His eyes were closed and his chest rose and fell with erratic breathing.

"Oh, is the little birdie hurt?" Adam mocked, "Do not think I've forgotten about you, Raven. You made a deal with us then went back on your bargain. I never got to properly punish you for that." He broke into laughter.

Eve managed to half crawl, half drag herself over to Raven. She didn't know what to do. There was nothing in her database about fixing humans, just Nasods. She reached to touch him, but was worried about hurting him more. She noticed that her hands had become stained by Raven's blood. She could feel something creeping up into her system. In front of her eyes small red windows flash up reading, "ERROR! ERROR! System breakdown imminent! ERROR DECTECETD: Emotional Drive in critical condition! WARNNING: COUP MODE- Activating!" But she paid them no mind; in fact she barely saw them. She was too busy trying to comprehend Raven's pain streaked face. She wanted to help but she didn't know what to-

"What is this?" she heard Adam say, "Is this why you refuse me? Because you- with a human…" apparently the thought was too much for the King to process, because he thankfully stopped talking. And that was when Eve seemed to withdraw into herself as the different codes waged a war inside of her.

Elsword led the charge down the dark, barely lit tunnels that led to the main chamber in the factory. He was silently cursing Eve and Raven. Why would the two of them go off alone like that? Those two were the last people he would expect that kind of behavior from. In fact the one who would most likely do that was himself! They had no idea who the enemy was, no clue what kind of traps were waiting for them to stumble into. So why would the two most level headed people he knew take such a bold risk like that!

Finally the ElGang reached the main chamber to… chaos. They all took in several things at once. One: There was some weird silver haired dude with a bloody sword. Two: Raven was lying in a pool of dark red that was most certainly not paint. And three: Eve was going ballistic.

The Nasod Queen was floating off the ground a bit, with all sorts of screens and lights around her. Her gold eyes had rows of vertical blue numbers running in them and every piece of machinery in the immediate area was sparking and even moving.

"What's happening?!" Elsword shouted to the others.

Aisha yelled back, "I think Eve gone into some kind of self-defense mode! Her magic readings are off the charts!"

"That's not good!" The ever practical Chung chimed in.

Then the odd dude began to laugh like a maniac, "Yes! Show us your power, Eve! Show you human friends the monster you really are!"

That seemed to break through to Eve, she frowned and kind of curled into a ball, her arms wrapping around her legs, her hair floated around her, completely defying gravity.

Elsword recognized that position, it was the same she had been in when he'd first found her. He knew what was happening. He raced forward yelling, "EVE! Don't!"

Behind him Aisha yelled, "Elsword, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

The red haired boy paid his friend no heed as he ran up to Eve. He grabbed her by her ankle and pulled as hard as he could. Thankfully, whatever the crazy teen had done worked. The screens around Eve shattered and the light faded. The anti-gravity affect failed and she fell, limp and heavy, into Elsword's arms. He almost buckled under the Nasod's weight but he managed not to fall.

By the time the others gathered the odd man had vanished. Rena rushed to Raven's side and summoned Sylph, her healing fairy, to heal him, while Chung and Aisha tried to help Eve as best they could. Elsword stood a bit ways off, staring were the man had vanished. He was angry. Two of his friends were severely hurt and might not even survive. A sinking feeling grew in his gut. What was going to happen to them now?


	2. Chapter 1: Regrets and Decisions

****Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the ElGang or their world. ****

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**Chapter 1: Regrets and Decisions**

"Nerve Endings: RECONNECTED. Visual Parameter: RESTORED. Sensory Inputs: RESTORED. Memory Data: RESTORED. Emotional Drive: STABALIZED. ElCore: ONLINE. All Systems: ONLINE. Good Morning: EVE." A voice rang through the darkness that surrounded the Queen of the Nasods. She could feel the whirrs and clicks happening as her Nasod body finished its repairs. Then she opened her eyes. It took a moment from the screens to stop popping up in front of her vision. Then another minute for her eyes to realign themselves to the room. She had been put into her Capsule, the lid was open and she could see red-hair in her peripheral vision.

Next to her she hear Elsword say, "Eve? You okay?"

She sat up and turned to look at him. Her movements were jerky and her voice came out with a robotic tinge in it. "I am experiencing several system dysfunctions. However, they are minor errors that are being corrected as we speak."

Elsword was disconcerted by the mechanical tone of Eve's voice. She only sounded like that when she was severely damaged. He was rather worried about the wellbeing of his friend. Then she cocked her head to one side. "What happened to Raven?" her voice was losing its mechanical tone.

"He's not doing great." He said, but the frown on Eve's face made him back track, "But Rena and the doctor said he should be fine, he's just in a bit of a coma now."

Eve was confused by that. She searched in her databases for the word "coma". Elsword watched as her eyes went flat and faint blue computer code began to scroll vertically in her eyes. She found an entry, "Coma: a state of prolonged unconsciousness, including a lack of response to stimuli, from which it is impossible to rouse a person." She rattled off. Her eyes cleared and she said, "Why has he fallen into this coma?"

Elsword shrugged, "He lost a lot of blood, he went into shock, and things like that tend to be a bit much on us humans. I suppose you could call what you were just doing, 'being in a coma'."

The Nasod considered that. "I wish to see him. Is it allowed?" she asked.

"Can you get up and walk okay?"

"I am quite sure I have the abilities to move under my own power." She responded.

Elsword kept a close watch on his friend as she got to her feet. Rena had changed her into a simple white nightdress. That on top of Eve's pale skin and long silver hair, the Nasod looked like ghost. The only color was her luminescent gold eyes.

He led her to Raven's room, where the male had been laid out on the bed. The dark-haired Blade Master was very pale, his whole torso had been wrapped with bandages and they had been spotted in some places with red. Elsword watched Eve's face carefully, but it was as expressionless as ever.

For a long moment Eve did not move, until she said, "Would you please let me be alone for a moment, Elsword-friend? I will not be long."

Elsword placed a hand on the Nasods shoulder before leaving the room. At the door he paused and said softly, "It's not your fault, Eve. Don't blame yourself."

When the red-haired teen was gone Eve moved to sit at Raven's side. Her mask fell and she let the sorrow play itself out on her face. She brushed a lock of hair out of Raven's eye. She remembered perfectly what had happened. Every sound, every movement, every biting word was permanently etched into her hard drive. She half considered erasing the memory, but at the same time she couldn't bring herself to.

Despite Elsword's words she still blamed herself. She had first broken off form the group to plunge into the unknown. It had almost cost her something very valuable. Adam would have forced her into a union given the chance. Raven had saved her; he had been her knight even if it was just for a moment. He had defended her and had been hurt because of her weakness.

As she gazed at his sleeping face she felt the anger well up in her. Finally she couldn't stand to be still any longer. She got up and walked out of the room her white dress flowing behind her.

The Queen Nasod walked into her workshop where they kept all her Nasod familiars. She grew sad again at the sight of her faithful Ophelia and loyal Oberon. Ophelia was missing her left arm and most of the shoulder, while Oberon had a gaping hole in his right side. He had almost lost the leg on top of it. The two Humanoid Nasods were stretched out in two Nasod Pods that she had restored. Moby and Remy were leaning against each other in a chair.

She walked over to them and picked up the white drone. She walked to another table and began to open up the panels that would allow her to fix the little Nasod. This work calmed her and allowed her to think. She pondered her weakness as her hands fiddled with wires and blots inside Remy.

She could not think of any way to increase the strength of her unit without damaging it. She thought about upgrading Remy and Moby again, but Raven's words echoed in her head, _"Maybe if you weren't so useless this wouldn't have happened."_ No, she needed to become stronger herself.

She paused in her work on the white drone. She did an internal data scan. The King's strength, where had it come from? Even if his Unit was newer than her own that did not explain why he had overcome not just her but Raven as well. She was still for several minutes before the idea came. It was not one she particularly like, but when she remembered Raven lying on his bed. When she remembered the red of his blood against her pale synthetic skin; she never wanted to experience that again. She made her choice. She needed to find Chung.

Chung stared in disbelief at his Nasod companion. "W-what did you say?" he asked.

"I am requesting your assistance in creating a male unit for combat. I am able to build the unit itself but as Ophelia and Oberon are currently disabled I request assistance in transferring my hard drives to the new unit." The Queen said, explaining herself once more to the male.

"And you want to do this because…?" he trailed off, disbelief written all over his face.

Eve's eyes darkened a bit, "My reasons are my own. Will you assist me?" Eve was beginning to be worried. If Chung would not help her then she would have to get Ophelia and Oberon back online first. She was unsure as to how long the repairs would take. If they were attacked before then she would not be adequately prepared for a fight. She had to-

"Whoa," Chung said, he had seen the dark look in Eve's face grow more serious the longer she thought, "Calm down. Of course I'll help, but are you sure this is a good idea?"

The Nasod just nodded, "Thank you. I shall find you when I am ready." She told him.

As the armored boy watched the slim Nasod walk away he felt a foreboding well up inside him. _This is not going to end well._ He thought with a sigh.


	3. Chapter 2: Elsword's Screw Up

****Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the ElGang or their world. ****

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**Chapter 2: Elsword's Screw Up**

The rest of the ElGang did not see Eve for the next two weeks. She first moved her Capsule into her workroom then locked the door. If she came out to eat or whatever the Nasod did they did not see her. Rena saw her once during the period of isolation, she had tried to say something to the Nasod, but she had been ignored.

Raven had woken up, about two days into Eve's self-imposed solitary confinement, but he didn't say much to anyone. He didn't think much of the Nasod's disappearance. He openly stated that if Eve never came out he would be fine with that.

Finally Eve emerged from her workroom, came down the stairs, and walked right up to Chung. "I am ready to begin the transfer." She said.

Chung nodded, "I'll be there in a sec." he told her.

The Nasod nodded in return then walked back up the stairs without another word.

"What's with her?" Elsword asked, "She doesn't see anyone for two weeks, comes back to say something that makes no sense to Chung of all people (no offense Chung), and then just walks right back up the stairs."

The Trooper just shrugged and stood, heading for the stairs, "I'm helping her with something. I'll be done by tomorrow at the latest, and then we'll have Eve back with the group."

Of course, Elsword was an impatient person by nature. So he went up the stairs and knocked on the door. Chung called out through it asking who was there. "Um, I saw Aisha practicing around your cannon and…" he didn't even get to finish his lie. The small blonde boy threw the door open in a panic and ran out, nearly knocking Elsword's drink out of his hand. The red haired warrior chuckled at his cleverness and walked inside, taking a sip from his glass.

Eve's workroom was usually very clean, but today it was a disaster. Bolts and scraps of metal were scattered all over the floor. Oberon and Ophelia's Capsules were pushed to the wall as well as Moby and Remy. Then Elsword saw Eve sitting in a chair. Her eyes were closed and her body was limp clothed in a simple nightdress. He walked over to her, "Hey, you awake?" he asked. When the Nasod did not respond he snapped his finger in front of her face. Nothing happened.

He looked around hoping to find some clue as to what the two had been working on. The room was pretty dark. One of the tables was covered with a cloth. Elsword set his glass down on another table and went over to the tarp covered one. He was about to lift the corner of the cloth up when he heard a loud bang from outside. He jumped so far back that he smacked into the small table behind him. He heard his drink knock over and liquid splash over.

He spun and snatched it back up. His eyes widened in panic when he saw that the blue Kool- Elaid had spilled all over a green and gold computer chip. Cursing under his breath he cleaned it off the best he could; cursing more when it let off a few sparks stinging his fingers. Then he heard Chung's footsteps on the stairs. He hastily dropped the chip, grabbed the glass, and bolted for the window.

Chung walked back into the workshop muttering to himself. He had gone outside to see that his canon was perfectly fine. In fact, Aisha hadn't been outside since that morning. He was confused as to why Elsword would lie, but brushed it off.

He walked up to the tarp covered table and drew it off. "Alright, Eve," he said, "Now the real work begins. I hope you're not gonna regret this."


	4. Chapter 3: Ethan

**Author's Note: I AM ALIVE! Whew, senior year of high school bring quite the trouble. But I shall prevail against this. So I bring you the next installment. Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Elsword... or anyone else... even the characters that I play.**

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Chapter 3: Ethan

Raven was pissed.

And he refused to acknowledge why.

So he ended up being even more pissed.

He sat at the dining table glaring at the wood surface. The rest of the ElGang (minus Chung and Eve) were scattered about the room. That morning Chung had said they would see their Nasod friend again; though the warrior seemed worried about something as he spoke to them.

The whole thing made Raven uneasy. What where they doing up there anyway?

As they waited a commotion up stairs began to filter down into the room. Loud bangs and yelling could be heard; these caused the dark haired male to look up just in time to see something white shoot down the stairs and knock him to the floor. The movement was so unexpected that he just lay there, almost gaping at the person on top of him.

It was a young male, seemingly in his late teens. He had shaggy silvery hair that framed his face, a few strands falling into his luminescent golden eyes. The teen was dressed only in a simple white shirt and shorts, which revealed quite a bit of pale skin. But the thing that Raven stared at the most was the blue gem set in a gold ring on the boy' forehead and the blue markings under the boys eyes. Also the black and gold horn like things on the sides of his head only stretched his shock.

When the boy spoke his voice, though rather childish in tone, had the same mechanical sound in it as Eve's did when she was adjusting from either damage or a reboot. "Raven! Are you well?!" he almost yelled. "When Chung told me you were awake I had to make sure that you were feeling better! I could not live with myself if-" that was when Chung came down and started pulling the teen (who was a bit taller than the blonde) back up the stairs.

"Eve! What's gotten into you?! Something's wrong you're not-" he tried to say but was cut off.

"I feel fine, Chung! Better than fine; my system is running at a capacity that is just astounding! Please let me go."

"No! You are most certainly not fine!"

"I do not require any more assistance from you! Please set me down!"

"WILL SOME ONE PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT'S GOING ON!" a voice bellowed. Everyone froze. Chung had his hands wrapped around the strangers chest and was trying to pull him back up the stairs. Raven as still frozen on the floor, Elsword had fallen out of his chair with shock at the yell, and Aisha had her hands clapped over her ears. Rena was standing up and panting heavily, her eyes boring into Chung's. "Where is Eve?" she said, her voice was low and deadly.

Chung gulped and said in a small voice, "S-she's right here." At this the teen gave a small wave.

Rena looked at the odd boy carefully, "Eve? That's not really you is it."

The boy grinned and squirmed out of Chung's grip. Then he proceeded to tackle Rena, "Rena! It is so good to see you again!"

Rena managed to get some form of order back into the room after some pushing and shoving. She sat Eve and Chung on the floor with the rest of the group standing in a sem-circle looking down at them. "Alright," Rena said, "Explain it to us one more time." She crossed her arms as she spoke.

The Trooper gave a sigh and said, "Eve came to me and asked for help with something. She wanted to transfer her hard drives and stuff into a male unit. She wouldn't really give a good answer as to why, but it didn't seem dangerous and it's what she wanted so I helped her. But something seems to be wrong, I put everything from her old unit into the new one and it all seemed to go in just fine. Eve built the thing herself so I didn't expect any problems. But she must have gotten some sort of bug in her system during the reboot, she's acting all…" he trailed off looking over at the male Eve who was rocking back and forth humming to himself, his eyes were flickering over everything in the room, as if he was seeing them for the first time. When the Nasod saw Chung looking at him the teen beamed at him and waved. "Well, I think you can tell." Chung finished.

"Soooo…." Aisha began, "Eve's a guy now; a happy, energetic guy who is slightly childish to boot."

"Seems like it." Elsword said.

Rena turned to Eve, "Eve, are you okay with this. Maybe we should put you back."

Eve's face grew panicked, "No! I want to stay like this. At least for a little while; I wanted to get stronger and my data inputs show that a male unit would offer more storage room for El. Like the King, I am stronger now. If I had to fight him again I have a better chance of beating him, even if I lose my servants. Also…" The Nasod trailed off. There seemed to be something else, but he didn't seem to want to share that reason. So he just smiled, shook his head and said cheerfully, "And that is it."

There were a few beats of silence. Then Aisha got stars in her eyes, "So how did you do it, Eve? Build a brand new unit from scratch. It's so cool!" she asked.

Eve grinned, got to his feet, and hooked his arm in with Aisha's, "Well it certainly was not easy. Especially because I did not want anyone to see what I was doing until I was ready…."

The two walked away, leaving the rest in the living room still slightly dumbfounded and marveling at the oddities of Nasods.


	5. Chapter 4: The Jealousy Ploy

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Elsword**

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Chapter 4: The Jealousy Ploy

Eve could not be persuaded otherwise so she would remain in the male unit until she decided to go back. Getting used to the gender change was interesting enough, but the personality change was worse. Eve had gone from solemn and slightly withdrawn to bouncy and cheerful. He tried to get into anything and everything. It was only after a few failed attempts in the kitchen that they began keeping a closer eye on the Nasod.

But due to the gender change everyone agreed that calling him "Eve" would be weird, so the group came together to discuss a name for the new Nasod.

"I think we should call him Sammy!" Elsword chimed in from his spot at the head of the wooden table.

"For the tenth time: we are not going to call the male Eve, Sammy!" Aisha snapped, slapping the table with her hand.

Said Nasod was smiling from ear to ear, bouncing in the seat. Chung turned to him, "You sure you don't want to make any suggestions, Eve. This is going to be your name after all."

The silver haired male shook his head, "No, I really want you all to pick one. It would be such fun!" He grinned. The sight of a male Eve grinning his head off was a rather disturbing sight but the guardian brushed it off.

"How about Reginald?" Rena asked, "It is a noble name."

Elsowrd stuck his tongue out, "Sounds stuffy though. What about Steve? It's got 'Eve' in it."

Aisha shook her head, "I think Evan would be nice."

Elsword opened his mouth to protest, when an unexpected voice broke into their debate, "Ethan." All heads turned to look at Raven, who had been standing against the wall, silent. "Call him Ethan and be done with it."

"Ethan…" the Nasod tested the name; he beamed at the knight, "Thank you Raven. I love it!" The newly dubbed 'Ethan' stood, he bowed saying, "I will be counting on you all for a while longer."

Raven scoffed and walked into the kitchen to see if the food was almost done.

Ethan had been in his room tinkering with Moby when he heard a knock on his door. "Who is it?"

"Rena and Aisha," The elf's voice said through the wood, "Can we come in?"

Ethan skipped over and opened the door, grinning, "Of course!"

The two of them entered the room. Aisha looked grim and Rena seemed mischievous. They sat Ethan down with them on the floor. "Ethan," Rena said, "there is something we need your help with. We considered keeping you out of the pow-wow due to your uh…," she trailed off for a second.

"Due to my transition from a female to male." Ethan filled in.

"Yes," Aisha said, sheepishly.

"That is understandable." The Nasod assured, "I have been prepared for such things. It will be difficult for the team to adjust to my decisions. More difficult than it is for me in any case."

"In any case," Rena said, returning to the subject, "what we are about to tell you is of the upmost secrecy."

Ethan gave a solemn nod, "Understood. I will lock this conversation in the secure memory files." The Nasod went perfectly still for a moment and his eyes grew blank and then blue code steam appeared in them. The other girls waited for the Nasod to finish. Then he moved again, his eyes back to their golden hue, "Very well, please proceed."

Aisha took a deep breath, "I like Elsword."

Ethan had to run that sentence through his processor a couple times before it finally completely registered. "Ah, you have romantic feeling for him. That is understandable. I am happy for you. When will you two be wed?"

Aisha turned beet red. "T-that's…" she stuttered.

Rena patted the purple-haired girl on her knee, "Ethan," she explained, "Elsword is not aware of Aisha's affection yet. That is what we are here to discuss."

After a moment consideration Ethan nodded, "Understood."

"Now," Rena continued, "unfortunately for Aisha, she wished for Elsword to make the first move. She has been dropping hints for months but to no avail. So we need to discuss an alternate method."

Rena watched the other two slip into thought. After a few minutes she gave her suggestion, "I think we should use the jealousy ploy."

"Eh!?" Aisha exclaims.

Ethan considered for a moment, "By seeing the possible object of his affection with another male it induces emotions of possessive anger and may cause a favorable event of confession."

Rena nodded, "Exactly."

"You want me to flirt with a stranger?" Aisha asked.

The elf shook her head, "NO, not a stranger, I would not ask you to do that. I was thinking of someone close; a friend."

Aisha's eyes bugged, "I wouldn't flirt with Raven if you paid me! And Chung is like a little brother to me I couldn't flirt with him if I tried."

Rena laughed, "Do not worry I was not going to suggest them." She looked at Ethan, "I was going to suggest Ethan."

Ethan blinked, "Me? But, I'm-"

"I know it will a little weird, but it is the best option." Rena said, reassuringly, "This way, nothing indecent will happen because, well, it's Eve."

Aisha thought for a long moment before turning to Ethan. Her cheeks dusted with red, "W-well, Ethan, what do you think?"

Ethan mind was racing. He could see that this activity could benefit him as well as his magician friend. The Nasod beamed, "I think it is a wonderful plan." He took Aisha's hand, "I am game for this."

"Okay," The magician said, "Let's do it."

Of course, this new development went over like a pile of Pourus with the rest of the gang. Seeing Ethan and Aisha doing couple things made everyone uncomfortable. Chung seemed more or less okay with things and Rena, of course, supported them.

Elsword was uncomfortable; he didn't like to be in the same room as them for long periods of time. If he walked into the room and saw Aisha on Ethan's lap or some such occurrence he would quickly walk back out. He wasn't sure if it was that fact that just a few weeks ago Ethan had been Eve or, well, he didn't know. All he knew was that every time he saw them together there was a sick feeling in his gut and a panging in his chest.

The person who was most disturbed however, though he showed it the least, was Raven. He would glare at the couple when they weren't looking and would even leave the house for hours at a time. About a week after the Nasod and magician had gotten together he had walked in to them baking in the kitchen. Aisha had gotten some frosting on Ethan's nose and was laughing at the Nasod's attempt to remove it. The heat in his chest rose into a burning flame. The servers in his Nasod arm churned as the metallic fingers bit into the wooden doorframe. With a growl he stalked away. He couldn't bear to even stay in the house. He prowled the village till he got into the woods to deal some serious damage to some poor trees.

He knew what the ugly feeling in his chest was. He was no stranger to it. His memory flashed back to a time when he'd been at a ball or some such event and had seen Alex chatting up Seris. The sickening heat that mde him want to drang the filthy cur outside and teach him a lesson he'd never forget.

Jealousy; it really was an awful feeling. What made it worse was that he was fully aware that the feeling was not directed towards the pale Nasod, but the purple-haired girl. He wanted to rip Ethan away from her and punch her. This is what made him so angry. Aisha was his friend, his comrade, he couldn't understand why he wanted to hurt her just for being close with the robot. Ethan was a Nasod, a mechanical unfeeling object. He shouldn't feel anything but lothing for the ruler of the race that had done so much to him. Saddling him with this lump of metal and gears that was nothing but a pain, no matter how strong it made him.

He tried to calm himself, rage was never a good answer to anything, but he just couldn't stop. The Nasod arm would burn red, as if it could sense his feeling towards the Queen and his desire to tear him away from the girl.

And as if the knowledge that he felt this way about a Nasod wasn't bad enough. Ethan was a boy! He wasn't the petit female queen. He was a… a king, he guessed. It was sick, wrong, unnatural. And yet, his heart ached for the silver haired boy.


	6. Chapter 5: Ethan and Aisha's Date

**Author's Note: Hiya! I'm alive and done with high school. Yipee! So to celebrate I'm adding these latest chapters. I hope you all enjoy. Also, thank to all those who reviewed, you guys rock! One more thing, I'm looking for someone to help me beta read this story. SO if you wanna help me out send me a PM and we can chat. **

**So, with out further ado, the next installment of First Comes Love!**

** Disclaimer: I only wish I owned Elsword... *Sigh*...**

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**Chapter 5: Ethan and Aisha's Date**

The Gang would always look forward to the summer festival in the village; the lights, music, and, most important to Elsword, the food. So it was to collective surprise when Aisha and Ethan said they'd be going alone on a different night from the rest of the group.

And it was this dispute that had the gang once more around the dining table, with Aisha and Elsword yelling at each other at the top of their lungs.

"But it's tradition!" Elsword cried, "The first one of the year!"

Aisha held Ethan's arm a bit closer, "But this is our first one as a couple!" she argued, "Of course we'd want to go by ourselves. Not with four extra wheels!"

"But you were part of this team even before Eve gender swapped herself!"

"SO! It's none of your business, Elsword! If we want to go by ourselves, then we will and you can't tell us otherwise!" Aisha yelled.

Rena was giving Ethan a sympathetic look. Aisha had really grown into her role as Ethan's "girlfriend". Ethan's 180º personality flip did nothing to help him in the wake of Aisha's enthusiasm. In this situation Ethan could do nothing but stand there and kept a hand on Aisha in case of the event of her leaping at the fire knight in her wrath.

Raven was leaning against the wall in the corner, his dark hair hiding the glare he was fixing on the three. Chung was standing next to Rena; he was considering breaking the two up. Thankfully for the guardian, Rena had given him a sharp look that held him back.

"Alright FINE!" Elsword finally yelled, "You want to go out on your own without your team! Then go the fuck ahead!"

"Alright then we will!" Aisha screamed back at him.

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

With that Aisha dragged Ethan up the stairs to get changed. Elsword stood there panting for a minute or two then with a growl he stalked into the kitchen seeking food for comfort.

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After a civil farewell with Chung and Rena, the couple, dressed in their respective purple and white yukatas, left for their date. Exactly fifteen minutes after they left a dark-clad figure slipped from a window on the second floor and maneuvered to the ground and slipped off into the shadows. Another fifteen minutes later the back door was silently slid opened and second cloaked figure disappeared into the shadows.

The first figure was Elsword and he soon located the couple at the fish catching stall. Ethan watched Aisha intently as she played, almost falling backwards when she suddenly yanked the paper net from the water. The he tried to calm her down at her discovery that her efforts had yielded no fish. Elsword gripped the edge of the building he hid behind and gritted his teeth. He couldn't explain it but the sight of Aisha so happy with the Nasod irked him to the umpth degree.

On the other side of the street perched on the roof among the shadows was Raven, who was berating himself for following them at all. He didn't care about them going out on such a romantic night, alone, by themselves, with none of their other friends there. He was _not_ agonizing that Ethan looked really good in the while yukata with the silver and gold stitching. With the lantern light glinting off his eyes of amber and- Raven knocked his head against a roof decoration to snap himself out of his thoughts

Down in the streets Aisha was pulling Ethan in a zig-zag from stall to stall. She really was having fun, despite having to act all lovey with one of her best friends. She had to keep from laughing at Elsword attempt at stealth. She had spotted him hiding behind a pole that in no way concealed him from veiw. Ethan had been flustered when she started getting all clingy and had questioned her. None of their friends were present, surly there was no reason for Aisha to continue their charade here. Aisha had brushed it off and said that the villagers need to believe it to. The male nasod had accepted this excuse and returned to his examination of the cotton candy that Aisha had pushed into his hands. He yelped with surprise when the pinks fluff melted in his mouth. The magician laughed and poked him on his forehead jewel playfully.

After than things began to quiet down, Ethan and Aisha walked away from the bustle and glowing lights of the village and found a little spot with sakura trees and a rolling green slope. Aisha squealed with delight and pulled Ethan over so they could sit and enjoy the rest of their food. Aisha chatted animatedly while Ethan listened, interjecting when appropriate.

Their two stalkers watched from the shadows of the trees. Elsword was grumbling quietly as he observed the two "lovers". Raven seethed silently up in his tree. Then something happened that almost had Raven falling from his perch. Aisha had leaned forward and… were they _kissing!?_

Now what had actually happed was Aisha was cleaning Ethan's face, but to their two tag-alongs it didn't seem that way at all. Elsword's face turned as red as his hair, the heat continued to rise till it burst out through his ears in twin puffs of steam. He collapses against the tree he hid under and just about passed out. Raven on the other hand did, he fell right out of the tree he had sat in.

Unbeknownst to the two observers, Aisha and Ethan both heard the thump of Raven passing out of the tree. Thankfully for the knight, Aisha convinced Ethan to not check it. She instead pulled the nasod up and asked if he was ready to go back now.


	7. Chapter 6: Morning Madness

**Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword.**

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**Chapter 6: Morning Madness**

The birds chirped happily the next morning. The "couple" and their "observers" made in safely the night before and two of the four had a very restless night. Elsword had nightmares of a questionable nature and Raven just couldn't sleep.

Echo had come over that morning, both to see the new Eve and to ask Rena for advice on her newest potion invention. The childlike alchemist was talking animatedly with the elf-woman while Aisha and Ethan made breakfast. Chung sat at the table near the two girls, polishing the components of his cannon. When Raven finally made his way down the stairs he was quite the mess. His clothes were rumpled and he had dark circles under his eyes. Ethan looked up at him and asked with concern, "Raven are you feeling well?" The silver haired android stepped right up to the knight and began feeling for a temperature, "If you are ill we can go see the doctor. It would not be beneficial if you got hurt in battle because you neglected your health."

Raven backed up nervously when the nasod got close, he fought to keep red out of his face. "I-I'm fine." He hardened himself and pushed the other male away, "I don't need your worry, machine." He said coldly. He forced the image of Ethan's pained and hurt expression out of his head. He stalked over by Chung and snatched up an apple, biting into it harshly.

When Elsword finally stumbled down the steps he saw Aisha calling Ethan back over to the stove. He felt a boiling sensation in his stomach and he got really angry. Before he realized what he was doing he stomped over the purple haired magician and yanked her around by her elbow. "What the hell was that last night?!" he yelled at her.

Though Aisha had known he'd been watching them she wasn't sure what had happened that would make him this upset. So she got defensive, "I don't know? What the hell your talking about?!" She yelled back.

"I saw you with-with _him_!" He pointed harshly at Ethan, who was still recovering from Raven's harsh treatment and was not in any way prepared for this. "You _kissed him_! How could you?!" Elsword almost screamed.

Aisha had been bracing herself for when Elsword would snap, but this was worse than she'd imagined. Everyone had stopped whatever they were doing and were staring at the three of them. Ethan began to stutter out, "B-But we didn't-"

"So what if we did." Aisha cut him off. She wrapped her arms around Ethan's waist and pressed herself to him, "What's it to you?!" she yelled.

Raven looked like he was gonna be sick. Rena was a bit surprised, she couldn't tell if this development was going to be good or if it was going to end very badly. Chung was close to stuffing himself in his cannon to hide from this fight. Echo just watched with some fascination while sucking on her lollipop.

Elsword's face darkened, "You shouldn't even be dating, he was a _girl_! Were you secretly lesbian or something?! Were you going out with Eve!?" He grew more distressed as his mind spun to these conclusions.

The magician looked as if he'd slapped her. "Excuse me! What are you my mother?! You can't tell me what to do, I can date who ever I want, so but OUT!" she pulled away from Ethan and roughly shoved the fire mage.

His eyes blazed, "You two are so disgusting, it's screwing with the team! I don't know how they stand it see you two being all over each other all the time!"

"Are you calling me disgusting!?" Aisha yelled, she summoned her wand-staff in a flash of lavender light, the top crackled with magic energy.

Elsword reached behind him to grip the hilt off his sword, "You wanna go, homo-girl?!"

With a scream Aisha blasted him with a spell, he dogged expertly and slashed at her. Raising her staff she blocked the sword. The two of them were inches apart, Elsword's fire magic mingling with Aisha's. The team had finally recovered from their shock and moved to intervene. Ethan went to pull Aisha back with Rena; while the boys rushed for Elsword. Echo ran from the room, leaving her things behind. She was an alchemist not a fighter.

Now, everyone was so busy trying to separate the two fighters (and failing at it) that no one noticed how the brawlers' magic was affecting the potions and magic items that Echo had forgotten. They began to spark and smoke and then, when they could no longer withstand the fire magic in the air, they exploded.

The blast nearly destroyed the kitchen/dining room. It separated the members of the El Gang and knocked them all out. Ethan was the first to wake. He tried to blink the diagnostic screens from his eyes. Glancing about the room he was very distressed to see that the kitchen had been torn apart. "Raven!" He called, worried, "Raven! Where are you?!" He pushed a piece of ceiling off his legs to see that one of them was torn open, wires exposed. He grabbed the broken counter and hauled himself up. Then his sensors picked up the sound of his teammates stirring.

Aisha picker herself off the ground, her head was pounding and she felt sick. She looked for Elsword in a bit of a daze. Then she saw a lump of black and red on the floor several feet away. She began to pull herself across the floor when something stopped her cold. She felt _something_. She wasn't sure what but it was weird and… she looked over to the oven's glass face, which had survived somehow, and saw a face that looked like her own but was just, wrong, very wrong. It was a bit more angular and just seemed off. She reached up and touched her face but couldn't quite figure it out. Then with a feeling of dread she slid her hands down to her chest and paled. They were gone; she knew she never had an ample chest, which was why she was so aware of it. Now, it wasn't simply small they were just gone. She was as flat as a board and when she trailed her hands further down she discovered a hard stomach and even further down…

"Aisha," Ethan voice grabbed her attention, "Are you unhurt?"

Aisha looked up at the nasod and said, "Ethan… I think… I think I turned into a… boy." She was a bit surprised to hear that her voice had become a deeper tenor than it normally was.

Ethan blinked. His processor was having trouble processing that. Aisha's shirt did look like it had gotten smaller. But not much else looked too different. Aisha staggered to her feet, "Check the others, are they-"

That as when Elsword woke up and gave a high-pitched scream. They both looked at him and saw a long red haired girl with an ample chest, wearing Elsword's clothes. "Whoa, whoa, what the hell?"

That was all the confirmation Aisha needed. She began to panic, blathering on about the woes of her situation. Ethan was really gone, his system on the verge of shutting down. There was a crash as a beam that had separated the kitchen in two was lifted and thrown to the side. And behind it was a woman with long dark hair, flaming golden eyes and wearing Raven's clothes. "ELSWORD!" the woman shrieked. She stalked over to the red-haired girl and grabbed her by the throat with a slightly misshapen Nasod arm. "THIS IS ALLYOUR FAULT! LOOK AT ME!" she screamed.

Two more figures emerged from the rubble, a man with short blonde-green hair and pointed ears holding a passed out long haired blonde girl. Both of their clothes defiantly didn't fit their physiques anymore. At seeing the violence being committed the elf set his companion down and rushed over to the Raven-look-a-like and started pulling on her grip. "Ethan," The elf called in a deep voice. "Get over here and help!"

The order helped clear the nasod's mind; he ran over and was able to dislodge the ebony-haired girl, grabbing her by the waist and lifting her off the ground. She kicked and flailed yelling for the "stupid android to put her the fuck down."

It was to this madhouse that Echo stumbled into, "Hey, you all o…kay?" she trailed off and took the scene in: of Ethan holding a flailing ebony haired girl and the other team members checking on the coughing Elsword and unconscious blonde girl. She sighed, "Well, damn, we're in trouble now."

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It had taken much effort and sneaking to get what had become of the El-Gang to Echo's house. They all gathered in her living room. Raven was sitting in a chair by herself, glowering at Elsword who was over on the other side of the room by a shell shocked Aisha. Rena was using his magic to get Chung to wake up and Ethan was sitting by the wall with machine parts scattered around him as he fixed his leg.

Echo came in with steaming mugs of tea she set it on the table, "Now, no attacking anyone in my house, you hear?" She clarified with them, though she looked right at Raven when she spoke.

The dark haired woman blew a lock of her bangs out of her eyes. "What happened? The last thing I remember is that Elsword was picking a stupid fight with Aisha then… the explosion and when I woke up I was a," She stumbled over the next part, "a girl."

Echo tapped a finger to her chin, "Well, the stuff I brought over was meant to transfigure a person so they could sneak into places-"

"Like the candy shop's you're banned from?" Rena asked, innocently, fanning the slowly rising Chung.

"Yeah," The pale haired alchemist admitted, "but the change wasn't meant to be permanent. I think it reacted badly with the fire magic that Aisha and Elsword where flinging around and blew up. It got on all of you and somehow swapped your genders."

"So it _is_ Elsword's Fault?!" Raven said, getting to her feet.

Deathly terror spread across Elsword's face, "H-hey, Aisha was fighting to!" She tried to defend herself.

"You started it." Aisha said numbly.

"Calm down," Echo said, popping a new lollipop in her mouth, "I said it wasn't meant to last forever. It should wear off eventually, but I'm not sure when. I can make a potion to fix it, but I'd have to write it, gather the ingredients, and test it. I estimate it'll take at least…" she counted on her hands, "One week!" she held up seven fingers.

"ONE WEEK!" Three voices yelled.

"That's way too long!" Raven yelled, "I don't want to be stuck like this for another minute!"

"I want my body back!" Aisha wailed.

"You know on second thought I look good." Elsword said, patting her now ample chest.

Aisha and Raven grabbed her by the back of her head and slammed it into the table.


	8. Chapter 7: Nightly Repairs

**Disclaimer: I do not own Elsword.**

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**Chapter 7: Nightly Repairs**

Most of the El-Gang had gone fitfully to sleep, but Raven couldn't. Her arm hurt, the metal extremity usually twanged now and then but it seemed that the magic that had changed the knight into a woman had not affected her nasod arm. Which she supposed made sense since their nasod friend, Ethan, had been untouched by the botched magic.

She sat on the window sill in her room rubbing at where dead machine met living flesh. She gave a groan of pain as the arm pulsed. It seemed to be trying to fix itself but didn't know how or even what the problem was.

A soft knock came from the door and Ethan voice called quietly, "Raven, are you awake?"

At first the blade master though to ignore the nasod, but another groan of pain caused the worried teen to open the door anyway. When Ethan saw her he gave a gasp and rushed over, "It's your arm isn't it? I was just about to power down when it hit me that your arm might not have reacted to the change well. Come with me."

Without listening to Raven's half formed protests, the android took her to his workroom. After inputting the key code, Ethan pushed Raven into a chair and started rummaging around on one of the work tables.

Unable to resist, Raven curiously looked around the nasod's work space. The Remy and Moby drones were floating in twin pods on another table. The walls glowed softly; wires going from the drones glittered. Oberon was spread out on what looked like a medical gunnery. He was also hooked up to a few monitors. His outer armor had been repaired but his open panel revealed either missing or broken components. Ophelia was a different story; a skeletal version of her arm was lying on a small stand in front of the silent maid-like dorid, who was upright in her pod. It was obvious that Oberon was being worked on more, while Ophelia's repairs were being delayed.

Ethan turned around; he was holding a tray filled with parts and tools. He sat in a wheelie chair and rolled over to where Raven sat. "Hold still, this first part will hurt, but I have to disconnect the arm to fix it." The male said sternly.

Raven "hmphed", what was the nasod taking her for, she could handle a little- "AHHH!" she screamed as the feeling of her arm getting cut off hit her. She clung to something, gasping as the pain suddenly stopped. When she realized the thing she was death gripping was Ethan's arm she quickly let go.

"Are you alright?" Ethan asked; he was now holding the nasod arm, his golden eyes glinted with worry.

Raven nodded, her face a shade paler than before. Ethan set the arm aside and grabbed a tool and began to examine the spot where the arm attached to Raven's body. While the nasod worked Raven looked around some more. Then she noticed that something was missing.

"Hey," She said, "Where's… um…" she trailed off not sure how to put it.

"Huh?" Ethan looked up in confusion, but then understanding flashed in his gold eyes, "Oh, you mean, me. Ah.. over there," He nodded over to a nasod pod covered by a white sheet. "I could not bring myself to dispose of my former unit." He turned back to the arm socket and continued working, "It felt as if I was throwing away my title as queen or at least my claim to it."

Raven grew silent. She hated the feeling of relief that had washed through her at hearing that Ethan still had the option to become Eve again. If Ethan had said that Eve's body was gone Raven would have felt as if the small nasod queen had been murdered or something equally stupid.

"Why?" Raven found herself asking, "Why did you change?"

Ethan paused, he pulled away, spinning around to work on the arm itself, after a long moment he said so softly Raven almost couldn't hear him, "Because, I didn't want you to get hurt again because of me."

The blade master had no response to that. For a while the two didn't say anything else. The only sounds in the room were the soft hums of the nasod pods and the tinker of metal coming from Ethan's work. Finally the young nasod spun back around; the arm looked smaller for sure, matching the other human one in size. It had more plating than it did before and was sleeker. Ethan pressed it into the socket and said, "Ready?"

Raven took a deep breath and put her knuckle in her mouth, she nodded grimly. With a remorseful look Ethan turned the switch and the arm reconnected to Raven's nervous system. Though she was more prepared than the previous time, it still hurt like a bitch, she groaned and tasted blood from her finger. She pulled it out to see the bite mark bleeding a bit. Ethan fussed and rushed to find a cloth that wasn't covered in oil or lubricant. Raven tsked, this body was weaker than the original one. She wanted to get back. She couldn't wait for this week to be over.

"Well," Ethan said, almost reluctantly, "that should do it. If you have any issues just come and tell me."

Raven stood, nodded and walked towards the door. When she stood in the door frame she paused and looked over her shoulder and said, "You should get some sleep. I understand we have a busy day tomorrow."

Ethan looked taken aback, then smiled sadly as he said, "I-I do not require much time in rest mode to be functional for the coming day. I shall be fine, but thank you for your concern."

Raven flinched and turned around, without another word she walked off to her room.

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An hour or so later, Raven slipped back to the work room and found it unlocked and empty. Cursing herself for doing this, she crept over to the tarp covered pod and slipped the sheet off. Her breath caught. Inside was the Queen of Nasods, she was dressed in her normal outfit and hair braided carefully. Her hands were folded across her stomach, her face peaceful, she merely look asleep.

Raven shouldn't have been there. She didn't care about this dead piece of metal. Not before or now. But she laid a hand on the glass and remembered the fight against Adam. They had not heard from the Nasod King since but Raven knew better than anyone else that when a man like that wanted something they took it, no matter whom or what stood in their way.

The ebony-haired girl slammed a fist on the thick glass, "Eve," she whispered, "why did you leave like this?" The question she didn't want to admit to, why didn't Eve trust Raven to protect her? After all, wasn't the knight supposed to protect the queen?


	9. Chapter 8: Shopping Expedition

**Author's Note: Hey guys, it's been a long time for this but the next chapter is finally here. Also, my best friend and I, the one who I was working with originally, are writing it together again. Hopefully we'll get more chapter outs this way. Please let us know how we're doing. Enjoy!**

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The team was woken up the next morning by the resident Elf. The team's choice of wear was a mishmash of each other's clothes. Then Aisha, wearing Elsword's pants and one of Chung's shirts, stood and slammed his hands down on the table, "We have to go shopping!" he declared.

"Why?" Raven said, she'd been forced into one of Rena's old button downs from her Combat Ranger days and a pair Chung's pants. She kept pulling at the collar of the dress shirt, irritated by the weight on her chest.

"Because I don't want to wear his filthy clothes!" Aisha yelled, pointing at Elsword, who was also wearing one of Rena's shirts but this one was from the days when they first began traveling together and one of Aisha's skirts.

"Hey!" the redhead protested, "My clothes are not filthy! Rena does laundry too often for that."

"Are you complaining?" Rena said, the poor elf was now taller than Raven had been so his pants were still too short, and yet the elf was slim enough to wear Chung's shirts.

Chung was wearing one of Rena's Wind Sneaker shirts and Aisha's old High Magician shorts; she was helping Rena clean up after breakfast. Rena considered Aisha's suggestion, "Well, I guess it's a good idea. I mean it would be a bit annoying to wear clothes that don't quite fit right all week." He said.

"Also," Chung piped in, her new voice high and bell like, "We should get new armor. Our other stuff won't fit at all in these bodies. If we have to fight, and with our luck it's just a matter of time, we need stuff we can move in easily."

"That cinches it!" Aisha snapped his fingers, "Let's hit the bazaar!"

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Rena took Chung off to the store where the elf normally shopped at; while the others were able to hit the regular stores. The first stop, much to the "boy"'s embarrassment and the "girl"'s chagrin, was the sleepwear and underwear shop. It was easy enough for Aisha to find new clothes, as the boys didn't have much variation, but Elsword and Raven were overwhelmed by the size and quantity of the girl's stuff.

"This is very wrong." Raven said, poking at short silky nightdress, "Can we leave?"

"It's fine." Aisha said.

"Hey," Elsword called to Raven, "What about this one?" she held up a black lingerie ensemble that didn't have a ton of fabric comprising the piece.

If looks could kill, Elsword would have been in a smoking pile on the floor. Raven stalked over and punched the other female in the face, with her nasod arm. Hiding behind a display, Ethan was crouching down his hands trying to hold down the red oil that substituted human blood. An image of the ebony haired female sprawled on a bed wearing the nightware in question was bright in his mind. Silver hair shaking, Ethan locked the picture away in his secure memory files.

"Ow!" Elsword wiped away some blood from her nose, "What the hell was that for!? It was just a joke!"

Raven ignored the red head and began looking through the undergarments once again. She took notice at the nasod hiding, holding his nose. Wondering what he was up to she approached him, "What's wrong with you?"

Bolting upright, his mouth opening like a fish, Ethan stuttered, "I- um- I was just-" His gold eyes flicked nervously, "My nasal sensors were out of alignment. I was correcting them." Internally, the Nasod flinched at the robotic excuse.

"Uh huh, and that would cause a nosebleed?" Raven unimpressed by the excuse, leaned closer to the nasod's face, "I think you're bullshitting me."

"I- I do not intend to bullshit my companion. For one, I am a Nasod, not a bull. Also I do not require to-"

Raven placed a hand over the nasod's mouth quickly before he got any further, "I know! You don't need to go into detail, I'm saying tha-"

Elsword, in all of her pranking nature, shoved Raven into Ethan, her hand slipped away from the robot's mouth and their lips connecting.

Raven went wide eyed, scrambling to break the kiss, "The hell is wrong with you!" Raven immediately began chasing the Rune Slayer, blade drawn.

Meanwhile, Ethan had fingers pressed to his lips, his face crimson. _WARNING: Core Temperature Exceeding Safety Recommendations, _the lines of script scrolled across his vision but he barely noticed. Raven had kissed him, the knight's lips had been touching his. A stupid smile spread across the nasod's face. He wondered if he could do it again.

Aisha came up behind the nasod and poked him in the shoulder, "What's with you?"

Shaking himself, Ethan responded, "There is nothing Aisha, I am fine."

"I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!" Elsword was pleading for her life, her head in a death grip and the Blade Master's sword at her throat.

"Give me one good reason not to be rid of you right now." Raven said, a grim expression on her face, she was not playing around with the Elsword, sick of her 'jokes'.

"I-I got you a kiss with Eve!" Elsword blurred out, hoping that anything would get him free.

Raven pushed her blade against Elsword's throat, the pressure digging a small cut next to the vein in her neck. Elsword just froze, terrified that she might actually do it, "Eve! Aisha! Help me! Please!"

Rolling his eyes, Aisha stepped forward and pulled Raven off of the red head, "Now now," He said, a little part of him pleased at how easy it had been, "if you kill him now, we'll just have to clean up the mess."

"Aisha is correct, Friend-Raven," Ethan said, "human's contain on an average five point five liters of blood. It would take some time to clean."

Growling in frustration, Raven let the pain in her side go… by throwing her into a wall, making a perfect indent where she landed, "He would've gone through if I was still a guy." Raven muttered before grabbing a plain pair of undergarments and storming off to the dressing room.

Aisha stood over the gasping Rune Slayer, "You seriously have a death wish."

"It was just a joke." Elsword stood up, pressing her ample chest against Aisha's flat one, "Why do you care? You my mom now?"

Face flushing crimson, the teen spluttered, "W-What?! Y-you-you…" Aisha shoved Elsword away into Ethan.

The nasod helped keep the redhead up on her feet, "You should be more cautious Elsword."

"Ya ya, I didn't mean to piss him off like that. I just wanted him to stop being so grumpy. Why don't you try to talk to him?" Elsword turned back to Aisha, "Wanna help me find something? Though I doubt you'll be much help." Elsword taunted the mage, a small evil grin on her face.

Eyes blazing, Aisha grabbed the girl by her ear and pulled her towards a display with a lot of red on it, "Come on Flame-brain," He growled, "I'm gonna find you something so cute you'll die."

"Damn it." Raven muttered, trying to fasten the bra but was having a great deal of difficulty putting on the undergarment. The bra was too small and the panties were rubbing against her uncomfortably. Suddenly a knock was at the door, "What?!" She snapped, not in the mood to deal with any more of Elsword's nonsense.

"Raven," a voice came from the other side of the door, "do you require assistance?"

Raven crack the door slightly to see the nasod standing outside, quickly closing the door, "What could a robot possibly do to help me with underwear?" Her face was flush and it embarrassed and aggravated her at the same time, _it was just a walking piece of metal that could talk. How can you have feelings for that?!_

Taken aback, Ethan had a hurt look on his face, "I may have difficulties understanding human emotions but I comprehend the method for choosing proper undergarments. The other girls have taken me with them before under the impression that I required 'cute panties' despite my Nasod status."

"Fine!" Raven threw the panties and bra over the door, "Just get me something that fits better then these."

Flailing for a second the nasod hurried to leave the garments at the return rack. He browsed through the aisles, then returned, arms full. "There are several different styles of undergarments, please select the one that feels most comfortable." Ethan asked.

"Just give me them." Raven just wanted to be done with this entire fiasco.

Handing the clothes to the dark haired knight, Ethan waited to hear back from the girl. Raven looked at the collage of clothing and was almost awe struck at the variety. Looking through the pairs she noticed a rather lacey set of underwear, not too dissimilar to the one Elsword was holding up, "Why the hell did you grab this?" Raven asked the robot, voice dead of emotion.

"It is a tanga style undergarment of an average size." Ethan said, innocently, "Is it uncomfortable?"

"I'm wondering what possessed you to think that I would wear it." She stared at the frilly bra and panties, actually thinking of trying them on for a reason beyond her grasp.

"I was simply attempting to give you the broadest spectrum of choices to help you make an informed decision." Ethan cocked his head to the side, though Raven couldn't see, "Were my assumptions incorrect?"

Raven cracked opened the door, glaring at Ethan, a claw pointed at him, "Don't you dare move. You hear me?" She closed the door and began donning the frilly set, it fitting much better than the previous set.

Waiting patiently outside, Ethan did not move a single micron, even halting his internal workings. A little village girl looked at the nasod, frowning, waving a hand in front of the blank gold eyes, "You okay, mister?"

Raven finished clasping the bra and heard the child outside the door. She cracked the door open, making sure to keep the embarrassing underwear out of sight, "Where is your mother little girl?"

The child pointed somewhere behind her. "Why are you not with her then?" The child gave a shy smile and darted off, leaving the two questers. Raven poked the nasod, trying to get his attention, "Hey! Go online again."

With a whirr, Ethan's eyes focused again, "Have you found a garment that is satisfactory?"

Raven looked at the robot, confused at his words slightly, "What would you classify as 'satisfactory'?"

"Is it comfortable to sit and move in?" The nasod questioned.

"I guess… um" Raven trailed off, face flustered, "Can you tell me how I look in them?" _What the hell is wrong with you!?,_ Raven thought, _it's not like his opinion matters!_

Ethan's mouth fell open, his eyes casting over the bit of the well figured girl he could see, "It's… quite suited to you."

Her face rivaled Elsword's hair in how red it was, "You really think so?" She revealed herself, showing her entire figure to the nasod.

Oil dripping from his nose, Ethan nodded vigorously, "I do not wish to deceive you in this matter."

"T-thanks. Um… would you be willing to tell me with the others as well?" Raven's face now darker than the Rune Slayer's hair.

Ethan forced his eyes to look away, "If the others are as comfortable as that style then I would be willing to give an analysis."

Raven shut the door, almost scrambling to put on the next pair, a thong this time with a matching bra, "You promise not to laugh at me?" _What am I thinking showing that thing myself like this!_

"I do not feel capable of laughing at this time."

Raven opened the door, "What do you think?"

The warning about his core temperature popped up again. Ethan turned and tried taking 'deep breaths' to control his overheating temperatures. "It looks… very nice."

"You're not just saying that?"

Confused, Ethan turned back around, "But I did just say it."

"As in you're not lying to me or saying it just to make me feel good." Raven's face couldn't stop being red even if she was frozen alive.

"I do wish to upholster your confidence, but I am not lying to you." Ethan said, reaching out to pat the girl on the head, a motion that Elsword had done to sooth Eve before.

Raven let the robot touch her till she realised what he was doing, "What are you doing?! Don't touch me!" She darted back into the dressing room, slamming the door shut and locking it, going on to the next pair.

* * *

"Come on, just try it on." Rena was pushing a very frilly white and blue dress onto the Tactical Trooper, "You'll look nice in it."

Chung tried to fight the much taller elf off, "Rena, just because I'm the girl now, doesn't mean you can treat me like a dress up doll."

Rena leaned in and kissed the girl in the cheek, "Please? For me?" Rena was giving her the puppy dog eyes.

Rolling her blue eyes, Ching slipped into the dressing room to remove the other dress he had her wear, "This is the last one you hear."

"Thank you!" Rena was almost jumping for joy, she pushed the Trooper back into the dressing room when she opened the door, the dress with her.

Stepping out, red faced but eager to hear what the elf thought, Chung smoothed down the skirt. The dress reached to her knees, the ruffled bodice clung to her curves, the cleavage dropping low. The blonde looked like a little doll, she twirled a lock of hair between her fingers, "Well?"

The elf immediately shot up and wrapped Chung in his arms, "I love it, you just look so adorable that I could eat you up."

Chung squirmed in the male's grip, "Oh, stop."

"I wish I could dress you up all day." He gave the blond a kiss, "Sadly we do have other things to do."

"Yeah," Chung said, turning back to the room, "how do you think the other's are doing?"

Rena just looked at Chung, expressionless. After a long pause he finally spoke, "We shouldn't have left them alone."

"I think I have enough for the week." Chung said though the door, "You want to go back."

"Yes and let's hurry, I like that store too and don't wanna see it destroyed." Rena hurried after Chung.

* * *

The two mages were looking over the red garments, "So which of these are the most comfortable?" Elsword asked, holding a pair of hipster panties.

Aisha made a face, "Ugh, not those." He snatched them out of Elsword's hand, "They make your butt look fat. These are better." He handed her a pair of bikini panties.

"But these are so tiny, how can these be comfortable?" Elsword stole the hipster back, "These look like they would feel much better."

Aisha placed her hand on her hips, "And how would you know? You've been a girl for how long? A day?"

Elsword crossed her arms, "I once raided my sister's wardrobe and this was the only type she had, I doubt she would wear only these if they were uncomfortable."

Mouth gaping Aisha spluttered, "You raised your sister's dresser! What kind of pervert are you!"

"I was six and we were having a prank war! She started it after she froze my practice sword in a block of ice!"

"So you were six! Your memory is hardly reliable!"

"Just like your spells, unlike my runes!"

"OH! You did not just go there!"

"I went there and I'll say it again! You're spells are as unreliable as one of Wally's robots!"

That was when Aisha attempted to strangle the red head with the underwear in question.

In the back Raven was displaying pair after pair of the bra and panties for Ethan who was leaking blood colored oil from his nose. The mercenary's face was a bright red, unable to stop but getting more and more embarrassed each time she displayed herself to the nasod. "You really like me in all of them?" Raven asked, wanting to hear it for some unknown reason.

Ethan was approaching a dangerous level of what humans called arousal, he couldn't stop looking at Raven, "R-Raven, I-"

"Yes!" _Please say it, I don't care why I did this, just say I look good._

The nasod took Raven's human hand, "You have always been the most beautiful human I've ever seen."

Raven was awe struck, was she really that pretty, even before the gender swap? "You really mean it?" She was shaking slightly, she was about to explode. _Why does this robot do this to me?! We have nothing in common besides that part of my body is nasod tech too._

Ethan wrapped an arm around the slightly smaller female, "I have told you, I do not wish to lie to you."

"If you really mean it then I want you to do something for me."

Ethan blinked, "Yes?"

Raven grabs the nasod by the collar, "Never tell anyone that I did this, you hear me?" She hissed, not wanting what she had done being exposed to the others.

Rapidly nodding, suddenly feeling short again, though he knew his units hight had not decreased. "I will lock the events of the past hour in my secure memory circuits." He said.

"Good, if anyone finds out I will turn you into scrap metal! Got it!?" Raven felt a small pain in her heart, she didn't want to actually hurt the nasod but this information couldn't get out to the others, it would shame her for life.

"What the hell is going on here!?" Rena and Chung were standing at the entrance. The elf looked pissed, seeing Elsword and Aisha trying to kill each other with panties and bras while Raven was holding the bot by the collar, still only wearing the undergarments that she was posing to Ethan in.

Aisha and Elsword froze like phorus with their claws in the cookie jar. Raven let the Nasod slip from her fingers, mouth agape. The staff hung about, looking as though they had wanted to interfere but had been too afraid to get close.

Aisha and Elsword began putting the underwear back in their proper places and apologizing to the staff while Raven darted back into the dressing room, trying to redress as quickly as possible. Once she was dressed she picked up all the pairs that Ethan had approved and quickly purchased them.

"I repeat. What the hell was going on here?!" Rena was pissed and they all knew it, Raven just tried to avoid his gaze the best she could. Thankfully she wasn't his main target anyways as Elsword and Aisha were the ones trashing the store, "I demand an answer from you two, now!"

"Aisha started it! She tried to strangle me with a pair of panties!" Elsword wanted to make herself as small as possible, hoping to avoid the elf's wrath.

Rena's death stair snapped to the purple haired mage, "Why were you trying to choke him with panties?" His voice was calm now but that was just a sign that the punishment would be terrible.

"Ummm…" Aisha twined his fingers together, "they were on hand?"

The elf grabbed him by the collar, dragging him to the back of the store where no one was. Suddenly an ear piercing scream spread through the store, made by the mage getting punished. Once they came back Aisha was in tears, "Don't think the rest of you get off scot free either! How could you represent yourselves so poorly in a public place! You are all embarrassments who should be ashamed of yourselves…" The scolding kept going until they reached the armory, their second stop of the day.

* * *

Lenphad was hammering on a red hot sword base, he began to greet his new customer but had to do a double take. He rubbed at his eyes with the back of his arm and blinked, "Kids? Is that you?"

"Regretfully." Raven replied, trying to keep some space from the Nasod, face still a little red.

Squelching the urge to laugh, the blacksmith asked, "So then, I'm assuming that you'll all be needing some new armor."

Rena gave a small bow to the blacksmith, "Yes sir, we would be most grateful if you could."

The man slapped Rena on the back, nearly knocking the elf over, "No worries! I'll fix you guys right up."

"Thanks." Raven said, she began looking around the armory, seeing if there were and weapons to take interest in, Elsword and Aisha were forced to sit on the curb with signs around their neck detailing what they did at the previous store. Rena occupied himself by telling Lenphad how their sudden gender change came about.

"Well," Lenphad, said, having Chung step up on a stool, "you all sound like you're in for quite the week."

Ethan had been poking around in some of the bins, he looked up and asked, "May I examine these parts and acquire some if they suit my needs."

Lenphad nodded, "Sure, queeny, take whatever you'd like."

The female Trooper was trying not to blush when the tape measure wrapped around her chest. "Are you still working on the drones?"

"Remy is nearly ready for reactivation." Ethan said, pulling out a tiny cog and examining it in the light. "However, Moby seems reluctant to cooperate with my efforts."

Raven scoffed, "Why not just wipe the thing and start over? It's not like the thing actually will give a crap."

Ethan nearly dropped the part he'd been tinkering with, "I-I couldn't do that. Moby is just going through a rough patch. I can fix him."

The mercenary slammed the blade she'd been looking at down a bit too forcefully, "Because that's all that matters to you robots. Fixing things, well some things _can't_ be fixed."

By now the whole shop was watching the two, trying not to speak for fear of breaking their conversation. Ethan stepped forward, "I am aware of that, but Moby is my friend, I require him."

"What about that body you have lying in your room," Raven hissed, "it's not like you need it anymore. Why not just scrap _it_ for parts?!"

Ethan was experiencing a system failure, his core was heating up, he tried to draw in more air to cool the ElCore down. "I- I do not wish to."

"Why?! It's not like it matters anymore! You're just a hunk of metal that can talk after all!" Raven shouted at the nasod.

The knight may as well of slapped the nasod across the face, his golden eyes widened. His emotional drive twisting into knots, he didn't want to be in this shop for another second, couldn't stand the hate that filled Raven's eyes. So he ran, ignoring the calls of his friends, running for the forest, his systems in turmoil.

The Elf chased after Ethan, seeing him enter the shadow forest. Even without his bow he was far from defenseless but the nasod was without any of his servants and drones, if something attacked Ethan then what was he do to defend himself?! The elf used the trees to his advantage, able to keep a sight on Ethan and see if anything was following the robot.

The nasod was much faster than before, darting through the dense trees like a streak of lightning. A collection of Corrupted Spirits melded from the trees right ahead of the silver haired android. Rena readied an attack to help, but Ethan lept right at the glob of violet. His hands crackled with energy and he literally tore the monster apart. He squashed another with a well placed boot. Rena caught sight of the silver circlet that the nasod wore flicker, a set of three dark nasod spears shimmered into the air, piercing the remaining enemies.

As the purple goo burst, it showered down on the heaving nasod. Ethan ran his fingers through his hair, the circlet ripping off his brow. He tossed it aside, crumpling to the ground, shoulders shaking. His clothes seemed to be flickering from snowy white to deep metallic black.

Rena came down from the trees and approached the trembling nasod, sitting down next to the robot, pulling him close, "He said some pretty nasty things back there, are you ok?"

Ethan looked at Rena, his eyes flickering with code, "Why? I have made every effort to befriend him, but he continues to push me away."

Rena began petting him, trying to make every effort to comfort the nasod, "I know, but you must remember, the king made him do horrible things when he was under his control. He thinks that all nasods want to kill humanity because of it but you can change that. I can tell you have feelings for him but the first thing that needs to change is _what_ he sees you as before he can look at you as a special person to him."

The flickering code faded, his outfit returning to white, "Yes, I understand."

Rena stood up and picked up the tiara, placing it back on Ethan's head, "Shall we go back then?"

Ethan straightened, taking a deep breath, when his gold eyes opened his protocols were securely back in place, the NEMESIS code firmly on lockdown. "Yes, I have returned to my optimal operating levels."

"Alright then. If there is anything I can do to help you just ask." The two began walking back to the town, arms linked together, the two friends chatting as they went.


End file.
